More than 5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians invented a board game almost as elaborate as anything from Parker Brothers today. Beginning simply as a form of recreation, this game was to evolve into a profound ritual, a drama for ultimate stakes. Called senet or "passing,"
http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/Archives/Piccione/index.html

By the time of the New Kingdom in Egypt (1567–1085 BC), it(Senet) had become a kind of talisman for the journey of the dead. Because of the element of luck in the game and the Egyptian belief in determinism, it was believed that a successful player was under the protection of the major gods of the national pantheon: Ra, Thoth, and sometimes Osiris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senet

Toth, the original incantation of Hermes was later to become Hermes Trismegist, messenger of the Gods,

Hermes also served as a psychopomp, or an escort for the dead to help them find their way to the afterlife (the Underworld in the Greek myths). In many Greek myths, Hermes was depicted as the only god besides Hades and Persephone who could enter and leave the Underworld without hindrance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes

To this day, there are no successful interpretations to either the Emerald tablets or the rules of Senet.